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| worst maritime disaster us: Sultana Alan Huffman, 2009-03-24 “One of the most riveting war stories I have ever read….Huffman’s smooth, intimate prose ushers you through this nightmare as if you were living it yourself.” —Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm The dramatic true story of the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history, Alan Huffman’s Sultana brings to breathtaking life a tragic, long forgotten event in America’s Civil War—the sinking of the steamship Sultana and the loss of 1,700 lives, mostly Union soldiers returning home from Confederate prison camps. A gripping account that reads like a nonfiction Cold Mountain, Sultana is powerful, moving, rich in irony and fascinating historical detail—a story no history aficionado or Civil War buff will want to miss. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Disaster on the Mississippi Gene Eric Salecker, 2015 Reprint. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, A1996. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Loss of the Sultana and Reminiscences of Survivors Chester D. Berry, 1892 |
| worst maritime disaster us: Sinking the Sultana Sally M. Walker, 2017-11-14 The worst maritime disaster in American history wasn’t the Titanic. It was the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River — and it was completely preventable. In 1865, the Civil War was winding down and the country was reeling from Lincoln’s assassination. Thousands of Union soldiers, released from Confederate prisoner-of-war camps, were to be transported home on the steamboat Sultana. With a profit to be made, the captain rushed repairs to the ship so the soldiers wouldn’t find transportation elsewhere. More than 2,000 passengers boarded in Vicksburg, Mississippi . . . on a boat with a capacity of 376. The journey was violently interrupted when the ship’s boilers exploded, plunging the Sultana into mayhem; passengers were bombarded with red-hot iron fragments, burned by scalding steam, and flung overboard into the churning Mississippi. Although rescue efforts were launched, the survival rate was dismal — more than 1,500 lives were lost. In a compelling, exhaustively researched account, renowned author Sally M. Walker joins the ranks of historians who have been asking the same question for 150 years: who (or what) was responsible for the Sultana’s disastrous fate? |
| worst maritime disaster us: Indianapolis Lynn Vincent, Sara Vladic, 2019-05-21 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * “GRIPPING…THIS YARN HAS IT ALL.” —USA TODAY * “A WONDERFUL BOOK.” —The Christian Science Monitor * “ENTHRALLING.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * “A MUST-READ.” —Booklist (starred review) A human drama unlike any other—the riveting and definitive full story of the worst sea disaster in United States naval history. Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis is sailing alone in the Philippine Sea when she is sunk by two Japanese torpedoes. For the next five nights and four days, almost three hundred miles from the nearest land, nearly nine hundred men battle injuries, sharks, dehydration, insanity, and eventually each other. Only 316 will survive. For the first time Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic tell the complete story of the ship, her crew, and their final mission to save one of their own in “a wonderful book…that features grievous mistakes, extraordinary courage, unimaginable horror, and a cover-up…as complete an account of this tragic tale as we are likely to have” (The Christian Science Monitor). It begins in 1932, when Indianapolis is christened and continues through World War II, when the ship embarks on her final world-changing mission: delivering the core of the atomic bomb to the Pacific for the strike on Hiroshima. “Simply outstanding…Indianapolis is a must-read…a tour de force of true human drama” (Booklist, starred review) that goes beyond the men’s rescue to chronicle the survivors’ fifty-year fight for justice on behalf of their skipper, Captain Charles McVay III, who is wrongly court-martialed for the sinking. “Enthralling…A gripping study of the greatest sea disaster in the history of the US Navy and its aftermath” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Indianapolis stands as both groundbreaking naval history and spellbinding narrative—and brings the ship and her heroic crew back to full, vivid, unforgettable life. “Vincent and Vladic have delivered an account that stands out through its crisp writing and superb research…Indianapolis is sure to hold its own for a long time” (USA TODAY). |
| worst maritime disaster us: SULTANA TRAGEDY, THE Jerry O. Potter, 1992-02-29 Lee Surrenders! President Murdered! Booth Killed! screamed the headlines of American newspapers in April 1865, leaving little room for mention of a maritime disaster that to this day is America's worst. On April 27, 1865, the Sultana, a 260-foot, wooden-hulled steamboat-smaller than the Titanic but carrying more passengers-exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee. More than 1,800 men, mostly Union soldiers on their way home from Confederate prison camps, died. On board were over 2,400 passengers-six times the ship's legal capacity. Although jubilant about the war's end, most of the men were weakened by malnutrition and disease from their imprisonment at Andersonville and Cahaba. Hundreds who were not killed in the explosion drowned in the cold, swift waters of the muddy river. Because of the timing of the sinking, coverage of the Sultana's demise was scant, and the tragedy has passed almost unnoticed in the pages of American history. In this highly documented book, author Jerry Potter focuses on how greed, indifference, gross stupidity, and criminal misconduct reaching as far as the White House led to the overloading of the Sultana at Vicksburg. Such irresponsible conduct characterized the actions of President Lincoln, an entire chain of army command, and several profit-hungry civilians. This authoritative work contains abundant photographs and illustrations, as well as the most complete list of the ship's passengers available. |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Eastland Disaster Ted Wachholz, 2005 A pictorial chronicle of the events of July 24, 1915, when the steamship Eastland capsized and sank in the port of Chicago, killing over eight hundred people. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Ship Ablaze Ed O'Donnell, 2008-12-30 The true story of one of the greatest tragedies in New York history On June 15, 1904, the steamship General Slocum was heading from Manhattan to Long Island Sound when a fire erupted in one of the storage rooms. Faced with an untrained crew, crumbling life jackets, and inaccessible lifeboats, hundreds of terrified passengers--few of which were experienced swimmers--fled into the water. By the time the captain found a safe shore for landing, more than 1000 people had perished. It was New York’s deadliest tragedy prior to September 11, 2001. The only book available on this compelling chapter in the city’s history, Ship Ablaze draws on firsthand accounts to examine why the death toll was so high, how the city responded, and why this event failed to achieve the infamy of the Titanic’s 1912 demise or the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Masterfully capturing both the horror of the event and heroism of men, women, and children aboard the ship as the inferno spread, historian Edward T. O’Donnell brings to life a bygone community while honoring the victims of that forgotten day. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Final Voyage Jonathan Eyers, 2013-01-01 With disasters from all over the world, these are stories of the people--whether they lived or died--as well as the ships.--Back cover. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Death in the Baltic Cathryn J. Prince, 2013-04-09 The worst maritime disaster ever occurred during World War II, when more than 9,000 German civilians drowned. It went unreported. January 1945: The outcome of World War II has been determined. The Third Reich is in free fall as the Russians close in from the east. Berlin plans an eleventh-hour exodus for the German civilians trapped in the Red Army's way. More than 10,000 women, children, sick, and elderly pack aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a former cruise ship. Soon after the ship leaves port and the passengers sigh in relief, three Soviet torpedoes strike it, inflicting catastrophic damage and throwing passengers into the frozen waters of the Baltic. More than 9,400 perished in the night—six times the number lost on the Titanic. Yet as the Cold War started no one wanted to acknowledge the sinking. Drawing on interviews with survivors, as well as the letters and diaries of those who perished, award-wining author Cathryn J. Prince reconstructs this forgotten moment in history with Death in the Baltic. She weaves these personal narratives into a broader story, finally giving this WWII tragedy its rightful remembrance. |
| worst maritime disaster us: White Hurricane David Geren Brown, 2007 Autumn gales have pursued mariners across the Great Lakes for centuries. On Friday, November 7, 1913, those gales captured their prey. After four days of winds up to 90 miles an hour, freezing temperatures, whiteout blizzard conditions, and mountainous seas, 19 ships had been lost, two dozen had been thrown ashore, 238 sailors were dead, and the city of Cleveland was confronting the worst natural disaster in its history. Writer and mariner David G. Brown combines narrative intensity with factual depth to re-create the events of the perfect storm that struck America's heartland.--Publisher's description |
| worst maritime disaster us: Salt to the Sea Ruta Sepetys, 2017-08-01 #1 New York Times bestseller and winner of the Carnegie Medal! A superlative novel . . . masterfully crafted.--The Wall Street Journal Based on the forgotten tragedy that was six times deadlier than the Titanic.--Time Winter 1945. WWII. Four refugees. Four stories. Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies, war. As thousands desperately flock to the coast in the midst of a Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom. But not all promises can be kept . . . This paperback edition includes book club questions and exclusive interviews with Wilhelm Gustloff survivors and experts. |
| worst maritime disaster us: ‘Eastland’ George W. Hilton, 1996-10-01 An account of the 1915 capsizing of the steamer Eastland in the Chicago River, an accident that killed more than eight hundred people, details the role of safety measures instituted after the sinking of the Titantic and examines the civil and criminal court proceedings which followed it. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Destruction of the Steamboat Sultana Gene E Salecker, 2022-03-15 The Sultana was a sidewheel Mississippi steamboat carrying almost two thousand recently-released Union prisoners-of-war back north at the end of the Civil War. At 2:00 a.m. on April 27, 1865, when the boat was seven miles above Memphis, her boilers exploded. Almost 1,200 people perished in the worst maritime disaster in United States history. Gene Eric Salecker covers this disaster in detail and dispels the many myths that have been connected to the Sultana for too long. Almost every author who has written about the Sultana has relied on the words of a few survivors or referred to the works of previous authors to get their story. Advancing the scholarship, the author has visited the National Archives in Washington, DC, to comb through the handwritten transcripts of the three investigative bodies that looked into the disaster or poured over the handwritten testimony from the court-martial trial of Capt. Frederic Speed, the only person tried for the overcrowding of the vessel. In 1996, after extensive research and using the most current sources available at that time, Salecker wrote Disaster on the Mississippi: The Sultana Explosion, April 27, 1865. Still, there were inevitable omissions. After almost twenty-five years of continued research on the Sultana, and all those involved in the disaster, Salecker has gleaned unparalleled knowledge into every aspect of the disaster. His research, covering the National Archives, and thousands of pages of newspapers from around the world and government documents, including pension records and service records, has allowed Gene to tell the story of the Sultana as completely as possible. By bringing his research back to primary sources, Salecker dispels myths and adds to the story of the Sultana. In Destruction of the Steamboat Sultana: The Worst Maritime Disaster in American History paroled prisoners, civilian passengers, guards, crew members, rescuers, and eyewitnesses tell their stories in their own words. The true, and complete, story about the Sultana and the disaster has finally, and fully, been told. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Into the Storm Tristram Korten, 2018-04-24 “An intense, immersive deep dive into a wild, dangerous, and unknown world, written with the pace and appeal of a great thriller. This is nonfiction at its very best.”—Lee Child The true story of two doomed ships and a daring search-and-rescue operation that shines a light on the elite Coast Guard swimmers trained for the most dangerous ocean missions In late September 2015, Hurricane Joaquin swept past the Bahamas and swallowed a pair of cargo vessels in its destructive path: El Faro, a 790-foot American behemoth with a crew of thirty-three, and the Minouche, a 230-foot freighter with a dozen sailors aboard. From the parallel stories of these ships and their final journeys, Tristram Korten weaves a remarkable tale of two veteran sea captains from very different worlds, the harrowing ordeals of their desperate crews, and the Coast Guard’s extraordinary battle against a storm that defied prediction. When the Coast Guard received word from Captain Renelo Gelera that the Minouche was taking on water on the night of October 1, the servicemen on duty helicoptered through Joaquin to the sinking ship. Rescue swimmer Ben Cournia dropped into the sea—in the middle of a raging tropical cyclone, in the dark—and churned through the monstrous swells, loading survivors into a rescue basket dangling from the helicopter as its pilot struggled against the tempest. With pulsating narrative skill in the tradition of Sebastian Junger and Jon Krakauer, Korten recounts the heroic efforts by Cournia and his fellow guardsmen to haul the Minouche’s crew to safety. Tragically, things would not go as well for Captain Michael Davidson and El Faro. Despite exhaustive searching by her would-be rescuers, the loss of the vessel became the largest U.S. maritime disaster in decades. As Korten narrates the ships’ fates, with insights drawn from insider access to crew members, Coast Guard teams, and their families, he delivers a moving and propulsive story of men in peril, the international brotherhood of mariners, and the breathtaking power of nature. Praise for Into the Storm “The story [Tristram] Korten tells is impressively multifaceted, exploring everything from timely issues such as climate change to timeless themes such as man’s struggle against the ocean’s fury.”—Miami New Times “Into the Storm is a triumph of reporting and you-are-there writing that becomes a deeper tale—with more implications about our own lives—with every chapter.”—Robert Kurson, New York Times bestselling author of Shadow Divers |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Wreck of the Medusa Jonathan Miles, 2008-10-16 A “thrilling . . . captivating” account of the most famous shipwreck before the Titanic—a tragedy that inspired an unforgettable masterpiece of Western art (The Boston Globe). In June 1816, the Medusa set sail. Commanded by an incompetent captain, the frigate ran aground off the desolate West African coast. During the chaotic evacuation a privileged few claimed the lifeboats, while 147 men and one woman were herded aboard a makeshift raft that was soon cut loose by the boats that had pledged to tow it to safety. Those on the boats made it ashore and undertook a two-hundred-mile trek through the sweltering Sahara, but conditions were far worse on the drifting raft. Crazed, parched, and starving, the diminishing band fell into mayhem. When rescue arrived thirteen days later, only fifteen were alive. Among the handful of survivors were two men whose bestselling account of the maritime disaster scandalized Europe and inspired promising artist Théodore Géricault, who threw himself into a study of the Medusa tragedy, turning it into a vast canvas in his painting, The Raft of the Medusa. Drawing on contemporaneously published accounts and journals of survivors, The Wreck of the Medusa is “a captivating gem about art’s relation to history” (Booklist) and ultimately “a thrilling read” (The Guardian). |
| worst maritime disaster us: Many Were Held by the Sea R. Neil Scott, 2012-06-18 Many Were Held by the Sea tells the story of the crash of HMS Otranto and HMS Kashmir off the coast of Scotland near the end of World War I. The two ships, former British passenger liners from the P&O Steamship Company, collided while ferrying hundreds of American soldiers from New York to various British ports. The narrative details the courage of the young men on board and the anguish of their relatives on the home front, ultimately building up to the disastrous conclusion. |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Port Chicago 50 Steve Sheinkin, 2014-01-21 Describes the fifty black sailors who refused to work in unsafe and unfair conditions after an explosion in Port Chicago killed 320 servicemen, and how the incident influenced civil rights. |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Wreck of the Columbia Ken Zurski, 2012 On the night of July 5, 1918, a steamboat named Columbia, returning from a moonlight excursion, collapsed and sank in the middle of the Illinois River. Of the nearly 500 passengers on board that night, most were from the town of Pekin. Eighty-seven people lost their lives in the disaster. The rest were left to tell their stories of fortitude and survival. The worst maritime accident in the history of the Illinois River, the wreck of the Columbia is a mostly forgotten tragedy today. Ken Zurski's gripping account follows the compelling true story from the moment the captain sensed a problem, to the horror of the cries and screams in the night, to the courageous actions of the rescue and recovery workers, and ultimately to the pursuit by law enforcement officials to find truth and justice. One town in particular found itself reeling from a sudden and devastating loss of life, an immense communal grief, and a frustrating search for answers that never truly came. PRAISE FOR 'THE WRECK OF THE COLUMBIA' A stirring account of the tragedy. An authoritative source on the wreck. A solid job of stringing together narrative accounts of that fatal night. Plenty of fascinating personal vignettes. Both instructive and entertaining. -Peoria Journal Star and PJStar.com Grabs the reader by the life jacket and sweeps them along as the horrific night unfolds. Played in my head almost as if I were witnessing the events and hearing the conversations. Spot on...historical perfection. A literary buffet...Fascinating tidbits of facts and information. A hit! -50+ News and Views A captivating and readable style. This book was hard to put down. A broad-ranging and probing look at the disaster, vividly bringing it back to life. A great read! -East Peoria-Times Observer |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Sinking of the MV Le JOOLA, Africa's Titanic Pat Wiley, 2013-08-16 Squalls were common this time of year. This time, however, everything was adding up wrong. The boat listing to port was testimony to the fact that something was out of order with either cargo loading or ballast. Having only one engine running further compounded the problem, and limited the crew's options to respond to an emergency. The crew should have noticed that the seas were coming on the starboard side and aggravating the list. But what happened next, at 11pm, was so unexpected; it was a shock to both passengers and crew. The LE JOOLA, suddenly, began listing further and further onto her side. There was no warning from the crew...no one saw, heard, or felt anything...other than the terrifying sensation of the deck slipping out from under them. At first, when passengers felt the steep incline of the deck, they thought it was a rolling motion from the waves--praying the ship would roll back. Passengers near the cargo deck heard the rumble of vehicles sliding and crashing onto the port bulkheads. The LE JOOLA continued to heel...higher and higher...exposing her flat bottom hull to the surging waves. It was 11pm when LE JOOLA capsized 17 miles off the African coast--trapping most of the 2000 men women and children inside. The majority of passengers had retired for the night, some in first and second class cabins, but most were in the lower level third class compartments. A large contingency of university students were singing and dancing in the restaurant when the ship suddenly lurched high to one side and began its death roll into the sea. Of Hundreds that managed to escape only 64 survived. What caused this disaster which was worse than the Titanic? Why weren't life boats or life rafts launched? Why was it late the following day before rescue craft arrived at the scene? The author of this heartrending story traveled throughout the country in search of answers to these questions and reveals the harrowing stories of the survivors and the shameful actions of those responsible for the tragedy. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Grave Misfortune: The USS Indianapolis Tragedy Richard A. Hulver, 2019-06-03 Dedicated to the Sailors and Marines who lost their lives on the final voyage of USS Indianapolis and to those who survived the torment at sea following its sinking. plus the crews that risked their lives in rescue ships. The USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was a decorated World War II warship that is primarily remembered for her worst 15 minutes. . This ship earned ten (10) battle stars for her service in World War II and was credited for shooting down nine (9) enemy planes. However, this fame was overshadowed by the first 15 minutes July 30, 1945, when she was struck by two (2) torpedoes from Japanese submarine I-58 and sent to the bottom of the Philippine Sea. The sinking of Indianapolis and the loss of 880 crew out of 1,196 --most deaths occurring in the 4-5 day wait for a rescue delayed --is a tragedy in U.S. naval history. This historical reference showcases primary source documents to tell the story of Indianapolis, the history of this tragedy from the U.S. Navy perspective. It recounts the sinking, rescue efforts, follow-up investigations, aftermath and continuing communications efforts. Included are deck logs to better understand the ship location when she sunk and testimony of survivors and participants. For additional historical publications produced by the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, please check out these resources here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/naval-history-heritage-command Year 2016 marked the 71st anniversary of the sinking and another spike in public attention on the loss -- including a big screen adaptation of the story, talk of future films, documentaries, and planned expeditions to locate the wreckage of the warship. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Sudden Sea R. A. Scotti, 2008-12-02 The massive destruction wreaked by the Hurricane of 1938 dwarfed that of the Chicago Fire, the San Francisco Earthquake, and the Mississippi floods of 1927, making the storm the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Now, R.A. Scotti tells the story. |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Sea Wing Disaster Frederick L. Johnson, Goodhue County Historical Society, 1990 |
| worst maritime disaster us: Into the Raging Sea Rachel Slade, 2018-05-01 WINNER OF THE MAINE LITERARY AWARD FOR NON FICTION NATIONAL BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR ONE OF JANET MASLIN’S MUST-READ BOOKS OF THE SUMMER A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE ONE OF OUTSIDE MAGAZINE’S BEST BOOKS OF THE SUMMER ONE OF AMAZON'S BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR SO FAR “A powerful and affecting story, beautifully handled by Slade, a journalist who clearly knows ships and the sea.”—Douglas Preston, New York Times Book Review “A Perfect Storm for a new generation.” —Ben Mezrich, bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook On October 1, 2015, Hurricane Joaquin barreled into the Bermuda Triangle and swallowed the container ship El Faro whole, resulting in the worst American shipping disaster in thirty-five years. No one could fathom how a vessel equipped with satellite communications, a sophisticated navigation system, and cutting-edge weather forecasting could suddenly vanish—until now. Relying on hundreds of exclusive interviews with family members and maritime experts, as well as the words of the crew members themselves—whose conversations were captured by the ship’s data recorder—journalist Rachel Slade unravels the mystery of the sinking of El Faro. As she recounts the final twenty-four hours onboard, Slade vividly depicts the officers’ anguish and fear as they struggled to carry out Captain Michael Davidson’s increasingly bizarre commands, which, they knew, would steer them straight into the eye of the storm. Taking a hard look at America's aging merchant marine fleet, Slade also reveals the truth about modern shipping—a cut-throat industry plagued by razor-thin profits and ever more violent hurricanes fueled by global warming. A richly reported account of a singular tragedy, Into the Raging Sea takes us into the heart of an age-old American industry, casting new light on the hardworking men and women who paid the ultimate price in the name of profit. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Maritime Industry Kenneth J. Blume, 2012 In the Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Maritime Industry, author Kenneth J. Blume provides a convenient survey of this important industry from the colonial period to the present day: from sail to steam to nuclear power. This concise new reference work captures the key features of overseas, coastal, lake, and river shipping and industry. An introduction provides an overview of the industry while the dictionary itself contains more than four hundred cross-referenced entries on ships, shipping companies, famous personalities, and major ports. A number of appendixes, including statistics on foreign trade, maritime disasters, famous ships, and major ports, supplement the dictionary, and a comprehensive bibliography leads the researcher to further sources. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Destruction of the Steamboat Sultana Gene E. Salecker, 2022-03-15 The Sultana was a sidewheel Mississippi steamboat carrying almost two thousand recently-released Union prisoners-of-war back north at the end of the Civil War. At 2:00 a.m. on April 27, 1865, when the boat was seven miles above Memphis, her boilers exploded. Almost 1,200 people perished in the worst maritime disaster in United States history. Gene Eric Salecker covers this disaster in detail and dispels the many myths that have been connected to the Sultana for too long. Almost every author who has written about the Sultana has relied on the words of a few survivors or referred to the works of previous authors to get their story. Advancing the scholarship, the author has visited the National Archives in Washington, DC to comb through the handwritten transcripts of the three investigative bodies that looked into the disaster or poured over the handwritten testimony from the court-martial trial of Capt. Frederic Speed, the only person tried for the overcrowding of the vessel. In 1996, after extensive research and using the most current sources available at that time, Salecker wrote Disaster on the Mississippi: The Sultana Explosion, April 27, 1865. Still, there were inevitable omissions. After almost twenty-five years of continued research on the Sultana, and all those involved in the disaster, Salecker has gleaned unparalleled knowledge into every aspect of the disaster. His research, covering the National Archives, and thousands of pages of newspapers from around the world and government documents, including pension records and service records, has allowed Gene to tell the story of the Sultana as completely as possible. By bringing his research back to primary sources, Salecker dispels myths and adds to the story of the Sultana. In Destruction of the Steamboat Sultana: The Worst Maritime Disaster in American History paroled prisoners, civilian passengers, guards, crewmembers, rescuers, and eyewitnesses tell their stories in their own words. The true, and complete, story about the Sultana and the disaster has finally, and fully, been told. |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Titanic Disaster Adam Stone, 2014-08 Exciting illustrations follow the events of the Titanic disaster. The combination of brightly colored panels and leveled text is intended for students in grades 3 through 7--Provided by publisher. |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Sinking of the Lancastria Jonathan Fenby, 2015-02-12 A fortnight after the evacuation at Dunkirk some 150,000 British troops were still stuck in France. As the German advance thundered west these Allied soldiers and airmen were faced with a mad dash to the coast in the hope that a troop-ship awaited them there. One such vessel was the 'Lancastria', a 16,000-ton liner pressed into service and now anchored off the port of St-Nazaire. On 17 June 1940, ready to head for home, the ship was bombed by the Luftwaffe. As she sank, between 3,500 and 4,000 of those on board lost their lives. Re-creating this extraordinary episode with great narrative flair, Jonathan Fenby shows us not just the human stories behind the disaster but the cover-up that followed -- as Churchill ordered a blanket ban on news stories for the sake of the country's morale. Gripping and moving, LANCASTRIA tells one of the great forgotten stories of the Second World War. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Poor Souls They Perished Andrew Lemon, Marjorie Jean Morgan, Morgan Marjorie, 2013 Shipwreck on King Island, Australia in 1845. |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Nazi Titanic Robert P. Watson, 2016-04-26 Built in 1927, the German ocean liner SS Cap Arcona was the greatest ship since the RMS Titanic and one of the most celebrated luxury liners in the world. When the Nazis seized control in Germany, she was stripped down for use as a floating barracks and troop transport. Later, during the war, Hitler's minister, Joseph Goebbels, cast her as the star in his epic propaganda film about the sinking of the legendary Titanic. Following the film's enormous failure, the German navy used the Cap Arcona to transport German soldiers and civilians across the Baltic, away from the Red Army's advance. In the Third Reich's final days, the ill-fated ship was packed with thousands of concentration camp prisoners. Without adequate water, food, or sanitary facilities, the prisoners suffered as they waited for the end of the war. Just days before Germany surrendered, the Cap Arcona was mistakenly bombed by the British Royal Air Force, and nearly all of the prisoners were killed in the last major tragedy of the Holocaust and one of history's worst maritime disasters. Although the British government sealed many documents pertaining to the ship's sinking, Robert P. Watson has unearthed forgotten records, conducted many interviews, and used over 100 sources, including diaries and oral histories, to expose this story. As a result, The Nazi Titanic is a riveting and astonishing account of an enigmatic ship that played a devastating role in World War II and the Holocaust. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Shipwrecks of Lake Ontario Jim Kennard, Roland Stevens, Roger Pawlowski, 2019-05 Documents the stories of a number of sunken vessels on the United States territory in Lake Ontario, among them the steamer Ellsworth, the St. Peter, the Homer Warren, the schooner Etta Belle, the Coast Guard cable boat CG-56022, the schooner William Elgin, the Orcadian, the steamer Samuel F. Hodge, the W.Y. Emery, the British warship Ontario, the schooner C. Reeve, the Queen of the Lakes, the schooner Atlas, the Ocean Wave, the steamer Roberval, the U.S. Air Force C-45, the schooner Three Brothers, the steamship Nisbet Grammer, the steamship Bay State, the schooner Royal Albert, the sloop Washington, and the schooner Hartford. Appendices look at three particular locations: Ford Shoals, Mexico Bay, and the lake near Oswego. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Dictionary of Disasters at Sea During Th F.L CHARLES HOCKING, 1969 A mammoth and sobering record, listing the tragically frequent disasters at sea between 1824 and 1962. The book, though daunting in size, is easy to use, giving an alphabetical list of every ship lost, with the circumstances of the sinking, and the technical data of each ship: length, beam, tonnage, speed, propulsion etc. This fascinating work of reference should be on the shelves or in the cabin of any maritime enthusiast. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Disasters, Accidents, and Crises in American History Ballard C. Campbell, 2008 Presents a chronologically-arranged reference to catastrophic events in American history, including natural disasters, economic depressions, riots, murders, and terrorist attacks. |
| worst maritime disaster us: April '65 William A. Tidwell, 1995 This text examines the history of the Confederate Secret Service and its involvement in the assassination of President Lincoln. The author uses previously unknown records and traces the development of Confederate doctrine for the conduct of irregular warfare. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Naval Accidents, 1945-1988 William M. Arkin, Joshua Handler, 1989 |
| worst maritime disaster us: A Night to Remember Walter Lord, 1997 Donation. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Cahaba Prison and the Sultana Disaster William O. Bryant, 2018-05-23 Tells the dramatic story of the infamous Confederate prisoner-of-war camp where 5,000 Union soldiers were interned during the latter part of the Civil War and of the ensuing maritime disaster With a death rate of 5 percent, Alabama's Cahaba Federal Prison boasted a better survival rate than the notorious Confederate prisoner-of-war camps of Andersonville, Libby Prison, Elmira, Rock Island, Johnson's Island, and Camp Douglas. Yet it was a ghastly facility, a hastily converted agricultural warehouse so overcrowded that each man barely had space to lie down to sleep. At the war's conclusion in 1865, however, in a harrowing reversal of the inmates' fates, captured Union soldiers were sent on a grueling overland march to the Mississippi River. Held there in camps at Vicksburg along with other prisoners of war, the soldiers embarked on the steamship Sultana for transportation north. Traveling first to New Orleans and then heading north, the vessel held by some estimates six times more passengers than its safe limit, many of them ill, injured, or malnourished. The flow of the swollen Mississippi that April was wide, swift, and cold, and the Sultana struggled to make the journey. Then, on April 27, 1865, seven miles north of Memphis, a series of three boilers exploded within seconds of one another. The lucky passengers were flung into the water as chunks of the Sultana blasted apart. The remaining wooden structure caught fire and the upper deck collapsed. Only an estimated one third of the passengers survived, hundreds of whom later died from their wounds. First published in 1988, Bryant's account weaves together the many strands of the Cahaba story. Combining masterful storytelling and insightful analysis, he describes Civil War prisons, the history of the Cahaba Federal Prison and its construction, as well as the prison's commanders, prisoners, and local women who provided medical care and food to the prisoners. He tells of the violent struggles among Union inmates, a mutiny and flood that occurred during the final days of the camp, and the harrowing deaths of the liberated soldiers aboard the Sultana. Bryant's Cahaba Prison and the Sultana Disaster remains a vital part of any library of Civil War history. |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Princess Alice Disaster Joan Lock, 2013 The collision of the Princess Alice pleasure steamer with the Tyne collier Bywell Castle in the Thames in September 1878 resulted in Britain’s worst-ever inland waterway accident. Almost 650 Princess Alice passengers and crew died. Whole families were wiped out; many children were left orphans; parents childless. The nation wept. Joan Lock describes vividly the lead up to the accident, the disaster itself, and its aftermath. She then delves into the quarrels that the tragedy devolved into, as each side blamed the other during the extended inquiries to discover just how the accident happened and why so many people drowned. In the process, the author makes a startling discovery. |
| worst maritime disaster us: Worse Things Happen at Sea John McCrystal, 2021-10-11 |
| worst maritime disaster us: The Outlaw Sea William Langewiesche, 2005-06-01 The open ocean--that vast expanse of international waters--spreads across three-fourths of the globe. It is a place of storms and danger, both natural and manmade. And at a time when every last patch of land is claimed by one government or another, it is a place that remains radically free. With typically understated lyricism, William Langewiesche explores this ocean world and the enterprises--licit and illicit--that flourish in the privacy afforded by its horizons. But its efficiencies are accompanied by global problems--shipwrecks and pollution, the hard lives and deaths of the crews of the gargantuan ships, and the growth of two pathogens: a modern and sophisticated strain of piracy and its close cousin, the maritime form of the new stateless terrorism. This is the outlaw sea that Langewiesche brings startlingly into view. The ocean is our world, he reminds us, and it is wild. |
WORST Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of WORST is most corrupt, bad, evil, or ill. How to use worst in a sentence.
"Worse" vs. "Worst" – What's The Difference? | Thesaurus.com
Jun 9, 2022 · Worse is what’s called the comparative form, basically meaning “more bad.” Worst is the superlative form, basically meaning “most bad.” Worse is used when making a …
WORST Synonyms: 160 Similar and Opposite Words - Merriam-Webster
Synonyms for WORST: worse, lesser, normal, inferior, unacceptable, usual, frequent, ordinary; Antonyms of WORST: only, unparalleled, incomparable, unequalled, unrivaled, unmatched, …
WORST | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
WORST definition: 1. superlative of bad: of the lowest quality, or the most unpleasant, difficult, or severe: 2. the…. Learn more.
“Worse” vs. “Worst”: What’s the Difference? | Grammarly
Aug 22, 2023 · Worst is used to compare a group of things (three or more) and translates to the lowest quality, the least desirable condition, or the most negative among them. As a …
WORST definition in American English - Collins Online Dictionary
The worst is the most unpleasant or unfavourable thing that could happen or does happen.
Worst - definition of worst by The Free Dictionary
1. bad or ill in the highest, greatest, or most extreme degree: the worst person. 2. most faulty or unsatisfactory: the worst paper submitted. 3. most unfavorable or injurious: the worst rating. 4. …
worst - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
5 days ago · Something or someone that is the worst. worst (third-person singular simple present worsts, present participle worsting, simple past and past participle worsted) (archaic, …
worst adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage …
Definition of worst adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Worst Definition & Meaning - YourDictionary
Worst definition: Most inferior, as in quality, condition, or effect.
WORST Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of WORST is most corrupt, bad, evil, or ill. How to use worst in a sentence.
"Worse" vs. "Worst" – What's The Difference? | Thesaurus.com
Jun 9, 2022 · Worse is what’s called the comparative form, basically meaning “more bad.” Worst is the superlative form, basically meaning “most bad.” Worse is used when making a …
WORST Synonyms: 160 Similar and Opposite Words - Merriam-Webster
Synonyms for WORST: worse, lesser, normal, inferior, unacceptable, usual, frequent, ordinary; Antonyms of WORST: only, unparalleled, incomparable, unequalled, unrivaled, unmatched, …
WORST | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
WORST definition: 1. superlative of bad: of the lowest quality, or the most unpleasant, difficult, or severe: 2. the…. Learn more.
“Worse” vs. “Worst”: What’s the Difference? | Grammarly
Aug 22, 2023 · Worst is used to compare a group of things (three or more) and translates to the lowest quality, the least desirable condition, or the most negative among them. As a …
WORST definition in American English - Collins Online Dictionary
The worst is the most unpleasant or unfavourable thing that could happen or does happen.
Worst - definition of worst by The Free Dictionary
1. bad or ill in the highest, greatest, or most extreme degree: the worst person. 2. most faulty or unsatisfactory: the worst paper submitted. 3. most unfavorable or injurious: the worst rating. 4. …
worst - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
5 days ago · Something or someone that is the worst. worst (third-person singular simple present worsts, present participle worsting, simple past and past participle worsted) (archaic, …
worst adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage …
Definition of worst adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Worst Definition & Meaning - YourDictionary
Worst definition: Most inferior, as in quality, condition, or effect.
